New Delhi, Jan. 22: Sunanda Pushkar died of an overdose of the anti-depressant drug alprazolam, America's FBI has found, raising questions about the viscera investigations by one of India's premier forensic laboratories.
A medical board formed with All India Institute of Medical Sciences experts that studied the FBI report has cited the US probe to tear into the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad over its contradictory reports.
The Telegraph has copies of both the FBI report, sent to the Union home ministry last November, and the medical board's report, handed in on January 12.
An AIIMS post-mortem had diagnosed alprazolam poisoning within days of MP Shashi Tharoor's wife being found dead in a hotel suite in January 2014.
But the Hyderabad lab denied poisoning in April that year before making an about-turn seven months later after being asked to do a second test. Even its November test failed to identify the poison, prompting a plea for FBI help.
"This is a grave issue of concern for our legal investigation system and the legal/scientific sanctity of the viscera examination, which raises serious medical and legal apprehension about the quality of forensic lab report/supervision of legal investigation /accountability in cases of death investigation," the medical board said in its report.
"It creates doubt/lacunae in reference to various legal cases where the pangs of justice hinges upon the findings of viscera examination report."
The FBI said it had failed to measure the amount of alprazolam in Sunanda's body because of the poor way the viscera samples had been preserved (by the Hyderabad lab).
"Due to the limited volume and generally degraded nature of the biological specimens submitted, quantitation of the identified drugs was not performed," the report says.
"Item 11 (blood): This sample was received with low volume, high viscosity and was degraded."
"Had it not been an independent report from a third source like FBI, the mystery behind her death would have deepened further," a member of the medical board told this newspaper.
"It is shocking how investigation and forensic examination are conducted in our country."
On January 15, three days after the medical board gave its report, Delhi police had affirmed that the FBI had found poisoning but the officers did not identify the poison.
Delhi police had lodged a murder case, without attributing any motive, after the Hyderabad lab's second report and questioned Tharoor twice.
Although empty strips of Alprax (alprazolam) tablets had been found by Sunanda's bedside and sources said she had been taking anti-depressants, the medical board didn't rule out the overdose having been injected. It cited a prick mark on one of her arms.
"The dozens of unexplained injury marks including teeth bite mark are suggestive of active scuffle prior to death," it said, adding that further legal investigation was needed for a medical conclusion.
It's possible, of course, for someone to attempt suicide after a scuffle with a person he or she knows.
"The circumstantial recovery of empty Alprax tablets (27 tablets) and report of the FBI which shows the presence of Alprax in stomach and its contents, spleen, liver section, half of each kidney, blood sample, as well as urine wet clothing, bed cover and bed sheet confirmed the death is due to excessive ingestion of tablet alprazolam," the board said.
The medical board also questioned an email that a friend had reportedly sent to the police saying Sunanda suffered from lupus, an auto-immune disease that can cause pain, fatigue and rashes.
The medical board said Sunanda had been discharged in a perfectly healthy condition three days before her death from the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences, whose multiple lab investigations had failed to detect lupus. It pointed out that the email writer was a child specialist and not an expert on lupus.
Sunanda's death, which came when Tharoor was a minister, has been mired in controversy. The police brass had alleged "pressure" on the local police and handed the probe over to the crime branch.
